Mostly Yixing for enjoyment, gaiwan for testing, kyusu, tenmuku bowls ocassionally, craziest vessel? ...an espresso machine to brew Yancha, ...once or twice, but convinced that it is for better for coffee rather than for tea, ...ooops, I forgot to mention the microwave oven...

Although not exactly a linear relationship, it seems this poll is a bit biased toward the type of tea a person prefers to drink. I usually drink Japanese teas so I chose kyusu. Someone who prefers Chinese teas will likely choose gaiwan or yixing.

eyvind wrote:Although not exactly a linear relationship, it seems this poll is a bit biased toward the type of tea a person prefers to drink. I usually drink Japanese teas so I chose kyusu. Someone who prefers Chinese teas will likely choose gaiwan or yixing.

I don't want to take the fun out of it so - go kyusu/houhin team!

True ... but I remember when I got my very first Kyusu, I brewed virtually everything in it.

I probably should have paired the Hohin and Shib together ... oh well.

I have a few vessels that I really like and use much more often, but my little shiboridashi set by Petr Novak might be my favorite. I only use it for gyokuro which I don't drink very frequently. It feels special every time I brew with it.

I have many favorite teapots depending on the type of tea that I want brew. However, at the moment I have fallen in love with a new kyusu from Andrzej. It's the exact shape that I've been craving, and at 105ml I can actually use the more elegant "grips" for pouring. (With my smallish hands I usually have to get pretty ham-fisted about it in order to maintain control of the pot.)

No all time/all tea favorite brewing vessel......but at the moment, I might be having more fun with my little treebark pot from Petr Novak than any other pot--but that's only for brewing up the traditionally roasted oolongs. It's not only amazingly cool looking and makes terrific tea but it also has this amazing aroma trick where the pot gives off the scent of plums. A second tree bark is going to make its way to me in the not-too-distant future, and I will finally have a chance to determine if the plum trick is a quirk of the one pot or a family trait.

debunix, if you lived close to me, I would be sending you a PM begging you for a chance to sniff your teapot. Sounds wonderful! (+ almost makes me laugh)

I wish I could laugh at how many accidents I've had w/ gaiwans. I really enjoy using them, but how could I say a gaiwan is a favorite when one cannot survive clumsiness or bad luck for more than a couple of months?

18 months ago a yixing pot chose the Thai red oolong that I drink so often as its only & special tea. Yet, I am not always sure that this yixing or any yixing produces better....... ; nonetheless, I am pleased again & again w/ a yixing teapot that manages to survive. I vote accordingly.

I'd have to say my yixing tea pot (60mL) for light Oolongs, because it's the only pot I have currently! Other than that it's a glass or a Gaiwan! In January the plan is to get a Kyusu for exploring the Japanese tea world, and perhaps some glazed clay Chinese tea pots for when I don't want to use yixing! Also need a dedicated Puerh yixing pot! I can feel my wallet getting thinner already...

This past year in Taiwan I had taken a trip with my tea teacher to visit some artisan teaware galleries and to look at teaware. After a day spent looking at many beautiful items I still had yet to feel that special connection/heart pull to a piece. My teacher caught an early train and my wife and I stayed on to look around. Around 9 p.m. we decided to leave to catch a train back home. On the way we saw a small sign that that said "stone work."

When we entered a quiet man sitting behind a stone-carved tea table gestured to us to come in and look around. There were many beautiful sculptures, statues, and tea tables…all carved by this stone master. As we looked around, I noticed the walls had dusty glass cases. When I looked inside the cases I was greeted with some of the most impossible and free shapes of wonderful teapots. A closer inspection showed that all the teapots were made of various stone. I followed the display to the end where I found a small teapot. The master's wife stopped watching her Taiwanese soap opera and came over to us. We asked about the pots and she said they were not for sale. All this time, I had felt the stone master watching us from a distance.

At this point he got up and filled a glass bowl, walked over to us, and invited me to fill the pot and pour it to see its perfect pour. He then invited me to tip the pot upside down over the water to show me how tightly fit the pot lid was. The pot is made from native Taiwan stone and is very elusive. He then began to share that he'd been working with stone for 40 years and we met his apprentice, a young art student from the south. He told us that his personal goal is to make 1000 perfect pots before he dies. The pots were his personal path. At that time he'd made 600 pots that he deemed perfect, the ones we'd been looking at in the cases.

After talking awhile he said something to his wife and then looked at us to tell us that he would sell us the pot I had been drawn to. We were surprised and when we asked why he said he had been watching me and knew I studied gong fu and cha yi/茶藝, noticed my care in moving, and that our meeting was yuan2 fen4/緣份 ((destined connection) This is how I've met all my deep teachers and friends in Taiwan… a very beautiful concept). We were deeply humbled.

He took us to his back workshop and elegantly signed/carved his name into the pot bottom and lid, dating the day. He then invited us to sit at the stone tea table and poured us many rounds of the best gaoshan wulong I had in my entire six weeks from a different stone teapot and carved stone cups. He pulled out the pot he'd offered us and began to meticulously buff the pot and then placed it in a box. All this time my wife and l looked at his portfolios of his life's work…beautiful things, mostly sold to China from Taiwan. He continued to pour us tea and placed the pot in a very nice box. We finished tea, thanked him for his time, bowed in respect, and left.

Amongst the many nice tea things in our home, my father-in-law's collection of Yixing teapots, my own Petr Novak, Yixing, and other pieces, if I were forced to choose one pot, it would be this unique, native Taiwan stone teapot which brews excellent tea and has such a flowing shape。 So, for this survey I have to choose "stone teapot" or "other."

茶藝-TeaArt08 wrote:This past year in Taiwan I had taken a trip with my tea teacher to visit some artisan teaware galleries and to look at teaware. After a day spent looking at many beautiful items I still had yet to feel that special connection/heart pull to a piece. My teacher caught an early train and my wife and I stayed on to look around. Around 9 p.m. we decided to leave to catch a train back home. On the way we saw a small sign that that said "stone work."

When we entered a quiet man sitting behind a stone-carved tea table gestured to us to come in and look around. There were many beautiful sculptures, statues, and tea tables…all carved by this stone master. As we looked around, I noticed the walls had dusty glass cases. When I looked inside the cases I was greeted with some of the most impossible and free shapes of wonderful teapots. A closer inspection showed that all the teapots were made of various stone. I followed the display to the end where I found a small teapot. The master's wife stopped watching her Taiwanese soap opera and came over to us. We asked about the pots and she said they were not for sale. All this time, I had felt the stone master watching us from a distance.

At this point he got up and filled a glass bowl, walked over to us, and invited me to fill the pot and pour it to see its perfect pour. He then invited me to tip the pot upside down over the water to show me how tightly fit the pot lid was. The pot is made from native Taiwan stone and is very elusive. He then began to share that he'd been working with stone for 40 years and we met his apprentice, a young art student from the south. He told us that his personal goal is to make 1000 perfect pots before he dies. The pots were his personal path. At that time he'd made 600 pots that he deemed perfect, the ones we'd been looking at in the cases.

After talking awhile he said something to his wife and then looked at us to tell us that he would sell us the pot I had been drawn to. We were surprised and when we asked why he said he had been watching me and knew I studied gong fu and cha yi/茶藝, noticed my care in moving, and that our meeting was yuan2 fen4/緣份 ((destined connection) This is how I've met all my deep teachers and friends in Taiwan… a very beautiful concept). We were deeply humbled.

He took us to his back workshop and elegantly signed/carved his name into the pot bottom and lid, dating the day. He then invited us to sit at the stone tea table and poured us many rounds of the best gaoshan wulong I had in my entire six weeks from a different stone teapot and carved stone cups. He pulled out the pot he'd offered us and began to meticulously buff the pot and then placed it in a box. All this time my wife and l looked at his portfolios of his life's work…beautiful things, mostly sold to China from Taiwan. He continued to pour us tea and placed the pot in a very nice box. We finished tea, thanked him for his time, bowed in respect, and left.

Amongst the many nice tea things in our home, my father-in-law's collection of Yixing teapots, my own Petr Novak, Yixing, and other pieces, if I were forced to choose one pot, it would be this unique, native Taiwan stone teapot which brews excellent tea and has such a flowing shape。 So, for this survey I have to choose "stone teapot" or "other."